If you haven't noticed by now, I love to put my characters through a whole lot of bullshit, angst, and pain. Keep in mind- this probably isn't going to end well for everyone involved. a/n for miss silverstreak
Mikaela was scared to death. She wasn't showing it though; only her gut instincts to stay calm were keeping her from freaking out completely. She sat stiffly in the cop car. She remembered the last time she had been in it. She had been in the back seat, staring through bars, and Frenzy had been there. She wondered idly where Frenzy was, she hadn't seen him since she accidentally uncovered him from the rubble at the warehouse. Mikaela was nervously chewing her lip, staring into the rearview mirror at Optimus when Barricade finally spoke to her.
"Why are you nervous?" He sounded genuinely concerned, and a tad curious. She was still shocked that she had voluntarily gotten in the car…the Decepticon. She couldn't believe he was asking her why she was nervous. She had to inhale deeply to keep from loosing it completely.
"Well…the last time I was in this…car I was stuffed unceremoniously into the back seat and held hostage, then forced to repair the one of the scariest damn robots ever to grace this planet." Mikaela said quietly, holding her fear in check.
"I see." Barricade said, keeping up directly behind Ratchet. Arcee and Jazz were on either side of the cop car, and Optimus was behind. Mikaela looked out the window at Arcee, and Arcee's hologram gave her an encouraging smile. Mikaela tried to return the smile, but found she couldn't.
"Do you?" Mikaela questioned, her voice borderline hysterical.
"Do not fear, little human. I will not harm you." He replied tensely. Mikaela swallowed, but nodded.
"I know." Her answer was short as she tried to keep her terror from bubbling over.
"How are you so sure?" Barricade asked swiftly as he drove. He didn't bother to create a hologram, and Mikaela shivered as the wheel moved of it's own accord every now and then. It never bothered her when Optimus did it, but watching Barricade do it with her in the car was a completely different story.
"I really don't know." Mikaela said, her voice shaking. "But it doesn't keep me from being completely terrified of you." She thought she felt Barricade give a sigh, but she didn't say anything.
"Understandable."
"Is it, now?" Mikaela asked as she emitted a strangled chuckle.
"Naturally. A few months ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to kill you. Right now, were you not here, I would not hesitate to kill your friends." Barricade said simply, not bothering to hide anything from her. Mikaela let out a strange choking sound, and Barricade laughed.
"I can tell you are regretting getting in the vehicle." Barricade said, his amusement dark and angry, much like his personality.
"A little bit." Mikaela admitted quietly.
"Again, understandable." Barricade drove too fast for Mikaela's taste. The Autobot's were speeding to keep up with him, the formation around him staying tight. "So, human. Where are they leading us?" Mikaela looked out the window, and frowned as she saw familiar landmarks whizzing by. She contemplated telling him, then again why shouldn't she? That's where they were being led, he might as well know.
"I think…I think back to the base." She jumped as Barricade laughed.
"How ironic. The Autobot's lead the enemy right into their home. Interesting." Mikaela glared at the dashboard, knowing that he could probably somehow see her.
"You are going to be watched." She said defiantly, as she pushed the sleeves up on her sweat shirt.
"Oh, I'm counting on it." He said with a merciless chuckle. Mikaela's stomach was wrenching in fear.
"You are going to betray us, aren't you?" Mikaela said, her panic fighting its way to the top. "You are going to tell them where we are, we've walked right into a trap, haven't we?" Mikaela's voice was rising in pitch and volume, and Barricade growled to shut her up.
"No, human. I'm not going to betray you. Them, I would not hesitate as I have already stated, but you are one of them. So no, I will not be 'betraying' anyone." Barricade said impatiently.
"Why, though? What makes me so different from one of them? Any Autobot would have done the same in my position." Mikaela pointed out as she crossed her arms across her chest. Barricade gave a snort.
"That I am not so sure about. Death is something all sentient beings fear, even us. Regardless, it was not one of them in your position. It was you. I respect you, human." And there was something else, something he would never ever admit to anyone. She was really getting under his skin, in a not so bad way, and he didn't like that at all. He wasn't sure he liked…feelings. He was used to killkillkill and that was it. No emotion attached, no remorse or guilt. But with this human, all of those emotions were crashing down on him tenfold and he didn't like it one single bit.
"I think we are getting closer." Mikaela said as she started out the window. Sure enough, she could see the more and more familiar landmarks as they drove. She covered her mouth as she yawned; suddenly realizing she was very tired. And she was hungry. This surprised her, since she was mostly Cybertronian, she hadn't thought she would need to eat. Her eyes kept closing, her body longing for the rest she had been depraved of for so long.
"Sleep, little human." Barricade said softly, his voice almost gentle as he reclined the seat that Mikaela was in. She rested her head against the seat, her mind slowing down as her body prepared to enter stasis. "Get what bit of rest you can." Mikaela murmured her thanks as she drifted off, the Cybertronian stasis slowly taking over her.
While she slept, Barricade to the opportunity to run scans on her. He could feel a high energy emitting from her, especially when she displayed emotion, such as fear. He withheld an exclamation as he saw the diagnostic results. The girl was…not human. Not anymore. This confused Barricade even more. How had this happened? He ran further tests, his scans probing gently into Mikaela's molecular structure without her ever feeling a thing. Her heart was electronically powered, but he could see through his testing that it was glowing an unnatural blue, even for a Cybertronian. He couldn't withhold his gasp as he realized just what was powering her. He quieted as she murmured in her stasis and rolled onto her side. Barricade shut off his scanners, stunned. The Allspark powered her? Impossible. It had been destroyed when that boy had pushed it into Megatron's chest. Maybe not all of it…well, apparently not all of it. Something had happened that night she had almost died, and that something had changed the girl completely. Barricade didn't want to admit it, but he was glad she was alive.
Optimus liked nothing about this situation. Nothing. Mikaela was literally in the clutches of the enemy, and he had let her do it. Not only was she with the enemy, he could tell the enemy had a soft spot for her. This not only pissed Optimus off, but it also made him insanely jealous, a feeling he had never had before. This was also cause for annoyance, and he was already angry enough. Jealousy did not need to be added onto the pile, but there it was, staring him in the face. Therefore Optimus was not in a good mood when he received word from Bumblebee.
"Optimus, what is your location?" Bumblebee's voice pierced into Optimus' com link, static crackling.
"Nearly back." Optimus' reply was short and irritated, making Bumblebee wonder just was going on.
"Did she find the wounded?" Bumblebee asked.
"Yes." Optimus was impatient. Bumblebee could tell.
"All right…See you when you get back." Optimus cut shut off the link after Bumblebee's reply. He hadn't really meant to be so short with Bumblebee as he hadn't done anything wrong. Optimus was concerned, and he knew he had taken it out on Bumblebee. He drove in silence for a while, before deciding to check on Mikaela.
"Are you all right?" Optimus cut into her thoughts, and she jerked awake, causing Barricade to murmur at her.
"Something wrong?" The concern in his voice amazed her.
"No…I'm fine." Mikaela said to Barricade as she shot a message back to Optimus. "Everything is going well, although it is strange to not be with you. I don't like it." It was strange, and she was uncomfortable, but it could be worse. It defiantly wasn't like last time, when she had been a prisoner.
"I don't like it either." Optimus groused. "I miss your teasing." Mikaela choked back a laugh, not wanting to draw Barricades attention.
"Just wait til we get back to the base…I'll get you alone, and I'll deliver on that teasing, that's promise." Mikaela sent back with a grin, then closed her com link and shut her eyes again.
Optimus chuckled to himself as he drove behind Barricade. He hoped she would deliver, otherwise, he thought he might go insane from waiting. It felt like forever since the last time they had actually been alone together. He had a feeling it was driving her crazy too, and that thought was slightly comforting. He knew that together they didn't require anything physical, he knew just being in her presence was enough to keep him satisfied. He made a mental note to snatch her aside once they got back to base in case she forgot. He chuckled again to himself as he saw the base in the horizon, the midday sun beating down upon the metal roof.
